Pelican Pathway Consejo Shores Belize
Chichén Itzá - Yucatan, Mexico
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The Maya name "Chichén Itzá" means "At the mouth of the well of the people". Although this was the usual name for the site in pre-Columbian times, it is also referred to in the ancient chronicles as "Uucyabnal," meaning "Seven Great Rulers".
About AD 987 a Toltec king named Quetzalcoatl (Kukulcan) arrived here with an army from central Mexico and with local Maya allies made Chichén Itzá his capital.
Dominating the center of Chichén is the Temple of Kukulcan (the Mayan name for Quetzalcoatl), often referred to as "El Castillo" (the castle). This step pyramid with a ground plan of square terraces with stairways up each of the 4 sides to the temple on top. Great sculptures of Plumed Serpents run down the sides of the northern staircase, and are set off by shadows from the corner tiers on the Spring and Fall equinox.
The Mayan chronicles record that in 1221 a revolt and civil war broke out, and archeological evidence confirms that the wooden roofs of the great market and the Temple of the Warriors were burnt at about this date. Chichén Itzá went into decline as control over Yucatán shifted to Mayapan. While the site was never completely abandoned, the population declined and no major new constructions were built. The Sacred Cenote, however, remained a place of pilgrimage
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